Theatre Alive: Monday Musings with Mary Lou Jelbart

See interview in its original context here by Theatre Alive.

La Mama and fortyfivedownstairs have joined forces in an exciting new venture, aptly titled ENCORE, and are working together to bring two of La Mama’s most popular 2013 seasons to fortyfivedownstairs in 2014.

Through the program, these two well-known and highly respected arts venues highlight a commitment to delivering must-see theatre, and extending the lives of some of our most outstanding productions.

We talked with fortyfivedownstairs Artistic Director Mary Lou Jelbart about the reason for the season, the shows involved, and future plans.

Tell us a bit about ENCORE and how it came about?

I’ve always loved La Mama, and in fact the very first show at fortyfivedownstairs in 2002 was a La Mama production; Sailing on a Sea of Tears. It was my original dream that popular shows from La Mama should have another season and extend their audience here, but it has been difficult to plan.

This year I thought “now or never!” and Liz Jones was wonderfully supportive of the idea.

How did you choose the two shows that were to be a part of the inaugural season?

Last year I’d been unable to get a seat for Mein Kampf, and only just managed one for My Life in the Nude as both shows totally sold out, turning away audiences.

Malcolm Robertson, the theatre guru who sees everything in Melbourne, said that Mein Kampf was his top pick for 2013.

I fell in love with Maude Davey’s performance, and everything fell into place.

Can you give us the lowdown on the shows that will be a part of the season?

Mein Kampf is an amazing farce written by George Tabori; a Hungarian Jew who lost most of his family in the Holocaust. He described the play as “A great love story – Hitler and his Jew”. It’s a play that uses “wit, paradox and surprise”, so I won’t spoil it by telling you any more!

My Life in the Nude is an autobiographical work by one of my favourite performers, Maude Davey. It’s a history of Maude’s ‘unclothed career’; she wrote it as a celebration of her career, something that would bring that part of her life to a close. But it’s so popular she hasn’t been allowed to stop!

Will ENCORE become an ongoing, yearly season? And how do you hope it will evolve with La Mama and fortyfivedownstairs working together?

I certainly hope so! Liz and I have always worked on the principle of a handshake agreement, I rang her and she immediately said yes.

We’re pretty much on the same wavelength, wanting to extend the life of outstanding work. We have to find funds to support such a season in the future, and fortyfivedownstairs has always been unfunded, so there are some practical difficulties to overcome.

Who inspires you, and why?

I am constantly inspired by the passion of people of the theatre who keep giving us wonderful shows, in spite of the fact that most work for love not money. I think the general public is almost completely unaware that work is so episodic, so few earn even a basic wage.

Apart from that I’ve recently been inspired by the French film-maker Agnes Varda, who directed her most recent major film The Beaches of Agnes when she was 80, and a television series in 2011.  We have an ambivalent attitude to age in Australia, Agnes Varda shows that age is irrelevant, and that what matters is creativity and originality.

Mein Kampf runs at fortyfivedownstairs until 13 July, and My Life in the Nude until 27 July, 2014.